When I was 13 years old, my family lived on a farm in Iraq.
My father used to take my siblings and me to school in his military green colored Range Rover.
Each school day, we passed by a military checkpoint manned by Saddam Hussein’s palace guards. Saddam Hussein owned a palace in the area.
The guards would sit atop of the hill, with weapons.
Every time they saw my father’s car, they stood up straight and saluted him.
They thought my father worked for Saddam (seeing his military green vehicle).
My siblings and I laughed, we even sometimes thought that this was cool.
My father one day stopped by the checkpoint, and waved to one of the guards to talk with him. Dad explained to the guard that he was a math teacher, and a math supervisor for a school district in Iraq. Following that encounter, Saddam’s guards didn’t give my father a single salute, or even pay him any attention.
My father’s leadership, principles, and actions were based on integrity, doing the right thing, and the love of God. He made sure to plant those same seeds in his children, when raising us.
Many times my father would jokingly say that he raised us all — including my mother.
Of course, he said this out of genuine love and affection for his family.
On occasion, both my father's talk and actions could be rough. Regardless, his first priority was always his family. He knew he needed to sometimes be this way in order to emphasize the wrongfulness of something we had done, and the need of doing the right thing to remedy it.
If we dared rebel against our father's teachings, then my mother would intervene, attempting to act as support for my father, while simultaneously attempting to create peace, but also reinforcing his message.
Mom had a powerful family role, not only in nourishment, but in stabilizing our family with love and care to always keep us emtioonally and spiritually intact.
Thus, our family unit remained a stable one. I am grateful for my parents’ compassion and love towards our family. This model of stability applies on a bigger scale to our civil society, at least we would hope so.
Our Constitution begins with, "We the People," those words are the most important priority for all government leaders to respect, and they should lead by example.
"We the People" refers to our nation being established by our Founding Fathers.
To this day, we still ask that our president to exhibit a "father-figure" style of leadership.
Upholding territorial integrity and national sovereignty is a crucial mindset our nation's leader must maintain, at all times.
Just as my father’s leadership was based on principles, let's remember that our president leads "one nation under God," and should do so by respecting the principles of our Constitution.
A civil society whose citizens understand the importance of the nuclear family and religion’s proper role, establishes a healthy atmosphere for children to find clarity and to measure their roles in moving towards their futures, so they can create their own successful careers and families.
Acknowledging the important roles of my father and my mother in family interactions helped me to understand my role clearly within my own family’s dimension, as a woman and mother.
Naturally, our overall success in society will be measured by that of our children, but today we see the challenges our youth and society face. We see the stark results of fatherless families, while our government remains unwilling to uphold the concept of the nuclear family.
God loves us all unconditionally.
Understanding this foundational truth can be challenging for some who are misled to believe we have a godless or agnostic society — especially for those who lack the firm foundations found in a nuclear family.
I hope "We the People" can embrace what my father taught me, that integrity is doing the right thing at the right time, and avoid the urge to turn a blind eye to wrong actions.
Building solid, grounded children starts with the nuclear family, for its key to a brighter future for our world. Examples of integrity and righteousness can begin with our government, and ourselves, as one nation under God.
Rana Alsaadi is a refugee from Iraq and now a naturalized American citizen. Prior to co-founding PACEM Solutions International in Falls Church, Virginia, Mrs. Alsaadi held multiple Senior Executive positions and served with the U.S. Department of State as a Cultural Adviser and the U.S. Department of Defense as a Translator/Analyst in Iraq. Mrs. Alsaadi is a graduate of Baghdad University and Georgetown University. Read Rana Al Saadi's Reports — More Here.